Soaring around the walls of the fortress, Kieran flew directly to his balcony. Touching down, he tucked the pouch against the waist of his trousers. It was late, well past time that he should have returned to his mate. Striding across the balcony, he carefully entered his chamber. Would she have retired by now? His eyes instantly sought out his bed for her. It was empty.
Moving further into the wide room, he searched for her. Nothing. Where could she be? Without pause, his eyes moved to the door. Taking a deep inhale he drew in her lingering scent, it was faint. She must have left not but an hour ago. Jerking the door open — and nearly off its hinges, he moved out into the hallway. Where could she have gone?
Rushing down the dark corridor, he followed her scent. Only to be forced to stop as her scent disappeared. His inner beast snarled. He needed to find her. Not just for her sake, but for his peace of mind. Though he hadn’t voiced his suspicions to Li’r, he believed Lowen’s theory to be true. Deep down he didn’t believe that the Kelithians had simply stumbled upon the whispers of Elena’s arrival. Just as it was no coincidence that the Dihma had found its way within the outer walls of the stronghold. Was it possible that there was a spy among his kind? Even if that wasn’t enough for him to worry about there was something worse that lingered in the back of his mind.
He wasn’t the only Garmorian that sought to win her for their mate.
* ~ * ~ *
Tilting her head back, Elena surveyed the incredible tapestry that hung on the wall in front of her. Stretching from the floor to the twenty foot high ceiling, her eyes flickered over the scene of what she could only assume was of Garmorian history. The dark colors enhanced the images of flying and battling warriors and lush forest land. Amongst the artwork she could see several golden figures battling against the Garmorian’s. Having looked her fill of it, she turned away to look around some more.
Exploring the castle for the last hour had yet to yield anything appealing. She’d found her way to the dining hall and to larger parts of the castle. She was careful to avoid anyone from seeing her, during her jaunt. Still it was better than wearing a trench into the floor of Kieran’s chambers by pacing back and forth. Moving from the empty dining hall, she followed another corridor that she’d not been yet. Taking several different turns in several different directions along the way, she found herself lost in the labyrinth of the stronghold.
She was just considering whether she should make her way back when she heard the sound of clashing metal and fierce male voices. Following the sound, she was lead to a pair of large doors. Moving closer she pulled on the metal hoop that served as a door knob, she winced as the door groaned with her slow movement.
Through the doorway it led down a short dark corridor. Her undeniable curiosity pushed her to follow it. The shouting of voices and clanging of metal grew louder as she drew near an open doorway. Keeping herself hidden along the wall, she slowly peaked around the corner.
Her eyes widened in fascination at the place she’d come upon. The room opened into a wide space to the size of a large gymnasium. Hundreds of torches hung from walls, lighting the area with a bright, warm radiance. Within the room there seemed to be hundreds of males engaged in some form of mock battle with each other. Many fought with long swords while others fought with only their hands and claws. Many took flight to the open ceiling with bows and arrows, striking at mounted targets on the ground below them. It was nothing that she’d ever seen before.
After a moment of watching, she found her eyes scanning the crowd of warriors for Kieran. No matter how hard she looked, she couldn’t find his face among the others. Where was he?
Though she would definitely deny it if she were asked, she found herself missing him. She could already feel herself warming to him again. Since their kiss the other day, she felt more drawn to him. Was this what he had meant about a bond between them and what actually did that mean? We’re her feelings for him even her own? When she thought about her life back home, all her excuses to return seemed meaningless all of a sudden. If what was between Kieran and her was real, why did she still feel the need to fight it?
“What are you doing?” a hard voice asked from behind her.
Startled, she spun around holding her hands up defensively. Stepping from the dark shadows, instantly she saw that she’d been caught by one of the warriors that had saved her and Kieran the other night. Her eyes slid from his strong and handsome face to take in his sweat glistening chest. At her attention, his dark wings flexed from behind him. The soft sound was just enough to jerk her from her prospective eye candy.
“I asked you a question. What are you doing here?” he repeated. His almond shaped eyes narrowed at her as he waited for her answer.
For a moment, she was speechless. Had she done something wrong? What would happen to her if she had? Maybe she should have ignored her pride and done as she was told. As her pulse pounded in her ears she clamped her lips together firmly. She refused to give him an answer that could get her into more trouble than she must have already.
First rule of getting caught: deny, deny, deny!
Irritated at her reluctance to answer him, he rested the flat of his sword against his bare shoulder. “I am Dajran, a friend to Kieran,” he explained softly. “You should not be here among so many unbound males. It is dangerous. If Li’r catches you here he will not be pleased.”
Giving a quick look over her shoulder at the battling warriors, she glanced back at Dajran trustingly. “I just wanted to look around. I got lost,” she whispered softly.
Nodding with understanding, Dajran looked around them to be sure they were not being watched. Taking the time to replace his blade in the sheath at his hip, he turned his back to her. “I will take you back. Follow me.” When he didn’t hear her following footsteps, he turned back around to see Kieran’s mate staring at him with reluctance. “You can trust me, female. Follow me.”
For a moment she just watched his retreating form. Why should she follow him? On the other hand, what did she have to lose?
“Are you coming or not?”
“Call me crazy, but nothing good ever comes from the stupid girl that follows a guy she just met in the dark.”
Frowning, he slowly shook his head, “I do not understand.”
“Translation: I’m not going anywhere with you — so you can forget it.”
“If I wanted to harm you, I would have done so already. But just in case you still have doubts — here.”
Reaching to the dark leather holster at his hip, he withdrew a curved dagger. Flipping it around in his hand, he held it out to her with the handle facing her. Taking the short blade from him, she lifted it closer to examine it. The blade its self wasn’t made of sharpened steel or any similar component like she expected. Instead the blade seemed to be made of a black diamond, shaped into a curved arch and sharpened until it was deadly sharp. She would imagine that applying just the minimal amount of pressure with it would slice through a person like a knife through butter.
“Either follow me or get caught by Li’r and I can promise you; he will not be as forgiving.”
Seeing no other option than getting caught, she gripped the barrowed blade tighter before following behind as he led her back through the labyrinth of the stronghold. The whole time her eyes watched his naked back with mistrust. It would take very little effort for him to turn on her, despite his claim to know Kieran. Jerking her eyes from his back, she looked around to find herself recognizing where she was. She was nearly back at Kieran’s chambers. She instantly felt more relaxed.
As Dajran came to an abrupt stop, Elena found herself running into his back before jerking back. Startled, Dajran turned at the waist to look back at her. Smirking at her flustered expression, he tilted his head toward the way ahead of him.
“Kieran’s chamber is not too far ahead. I must get back to training before I am missed.”
Nodding her head, she moved around him. “Thank you,” she mumbled in passing. Before she could get too fa
r from him, she heard his voice calling out to her.
“Female.” Elena pressed her lips together in anger at being referred to as female. Since arriving here, she’d been reduced to being called names like: female, human — or her personal favorite — Kieran’s mate. The whole thing made her want to pull her hair out! She did have a name!
She spun around. Her hair pillowed around her shoulders as she fixed her escort with a glare. “My name is not female. I am a person and I would appreciate being treated like one,” she bit out. Startled at her reaction, Dajran jerked his head back as his eyes widened.
“You misunderstand. I mean no disrespect. It is our custom not to address a female by her name unless given her permission.”
Well, that’s stupid.
Rolling her eyes, she briefly raised her hand towards him, “Fine, you have my permission then. Call me Elena.”
Nodding, he smiled, “Elena, may I ask you a question?”
“I suppose.”
“Do all human females wear clothing like you do?” At his inquiry, her eyes jerked down to her clothes in question. What was wrong with her clothes? Besides lacking shoes, she was properly dressed. If you called a t-shirt and sweat pants proper attire, that is.
“Some do. Why do you ask?”
Curling his nose at her, he shook his head. “I have never seen such strange coverings before.” he murmured, “Our females do not dress in such a way.”
With a mocking wince, she shrugged her shoulders. “I guess I’ll just have to make do.” Spinning around, she was in such a hurry to get back to Kieran’s room that she ran into someone in the process.
Letting out a startled gasp, Elena saw that she ran into a small, older woman carrying a large covered basket. Quickly, her hands shot out to steady the equally startled woman before she could fall.
“I’m sorry, I—” she began, but was cut off by the awed expression from the old woman. Her eyes widened as if she was looking at an alien. Moving closer to her, the old woman began uttering words that Elena couldn’t begin to understand. Instantly, she felt Dajran move closer before he turned his attention on the old woman. She glanced back and forth between the two as they began conversing in another language. After something that Dajran said, the old woman turned her excited gaze back to her.
“It’s you. You’re Kieran’s mate, the one everyone is talking about,” the old woman’s words came out slow and heavily accented.
Smiling slightly, she nodded her head, “I guess so.”
So glad this isn’t awkward…
Without looking, the woman shoved her basket at Dajran who rushed to grab it before it hit the ground. Eying the jeweled blade within Elena’s grasp the old woman reached out and slowly took it from her hand. Too startled to do anything, Elena just watched with uncertainty as the old woman placed the blade on top of the basket Dajran was left holding.
Slowly the old woman circled around her before reaching out to touch her hair while inspecting her like a horse for sale. Once she stood in front of Elena, she glanced over her shoulder at Dajran. Rapidly saying something to him in their native tongue, her wrinkled hand gripped Elena’s wrist and began towing her past Kieran’s chamber. Looking back over her shoulder, she saw Dajran smirking at her before turning around and heading in the opposite direction with the basket still in his arms.
What had just happened?
Filled with confusion on where she was being taken, Elena tried to voice her concerns. “Where are you taking me?” No answer. “I think you passed my room back there, I need to get back.” Still no answer. Perhaps the old lady just wanted to show her something? Obviously, English wasn’t a language that she was familiar with.
Pulling her down two more corridors, the old woman made a turn, bringing them to a stop at a pitched black stairwell leading down. At once, Elena felt her inner radar go off. She’d seen enough movies to know that this was the part of every film that never ended well. The old woman preceded her down the stone steps as Elena began resisting the strong hold on her arm.
“Look; it was nice to meet you — whoever you are. But I’m not going down there.” The old woman’s eyes flashed with curiosity in the darkness as she seemed to be considering her words. Then a firm look crossed her soft, wrinkled features before she tugged harder on Elena’s arm. Bracing her free hand on the doorway, Elena struggled to prevent the old woman from pulling her down the steps. Beneath her, she could feel her bare feet beginning to slide unwillingly against the stone floor.
How the hell is this grandma so strong?
“Come,” the old woman growled out with a frustrated look.
With one last final tug the woman caused her feet to slide over the edge of the landing, causing her to fall on the second step down. Uttering — what she could only assume was an apology, the woman jerked Elena back up to her feet and began tugging her down into the darkness.
Fear gripped her chest as everything became dark around her as her vision abandoned her. The air around them became moist and hot the further down she was dragged. In that moment she wished she would have held onto the jeweled blade instead of allowing a sweet looking old woman take it from her. She almost lost her footing on the edge of a step as the old woman came to a stop. A faint flickering light appeared before her eyes as a door was open in front of her. Reaching behind her the old woman promptly ushered her forward into the room.
Having no time to resist, Elena stumbled forward as she was thrust into the room. The air around her felt heavy and hot as a thin mist blew into her face. Turning back she saw the old woman enter behind her, before closing the door. While keeping the innocent looking granny in her sight, Elena’s eyes swept around her as she tried to figure out where she was.
Unlike the rest of the fortress, the floor and walls weren’t comprised of stone but some type of red earth. Were they underground? The mere idea had her hands sweating with panic. The room was equally the size of her whole apartment. Several pools filled with steaming water were spread within the space around her and nothing else. Realization hit her a second later. It was a bathing chamber. The old woman brought her here for a bath.
Chuckling, she turned to the old woman. “Are you trying to say I smell?”
She had been in the same clothes for the past few days, it wouldn’t surprise her if another notice her need to clean up. Moving past her, the old woman reached into a carved alcove along the nearest wall, pulling out a small corked bottle, she moved back to Elena’s side. Holding the bottle out for her to take, Elena didn’t disappoint her. Clasping the bottle no bigger than a bottle of salad dressing, she turned it around in her hands.
Looking up, she saw the old woman motioning for her to sniff the bottle. Seeing no need to refuse her, she pulled the cork out from the bottle. Instantly a pleasing and light scent of flowers filled her nose. Was it meant to be some type of soap? At her answering smile, the old woman reached out and took the bottle from her. Moving to one of the pools, she set the bottle down before turning back to Elena with a beckoning hand.
Moving closer to the edge, she was startled as the old woman moved up behind her and tugged her t-shirt over her head. Spinning around, eyes wide, her hands jerked up to cover her pink, lace bra.
“What do you think you’re doing?” she squeaked out.
Without batting an eyelash, the old woman simply gestured to the rest of her clothes with a casual hand wave, “Come, come.”
When she made no move to remove the rest of her clothes, the woman waved impatiently at her. Shrugging her shoulders at her situation, Elena slid her hands down to the top of her sweat pants before shoving them down and handing them to the waiting hand before her. The old woman took her clothes with a smile. She’d half expected that the old woman simply wanted to place them out of the way. Her breath left her lungs as the woman turned and rushed out the door — taking Elena’s clothes with her. She gasped at the closed door, standing in nothing but her matching lace bra and boy cut panties.
Dream of Me Page 14